While Shari supervised the installation of our patio today, I high-tailed it out of here (there's only so much mariachi music I can stand) up to Assunpink to join an All Things Birds field trip led by NJ Audubon's Scott Barnes. The target bird, for me at least, was Yellow-breasted Chat, a bird I don't see that often and one I haven't seen in NJ in years. We got that early as we walked the trail to the aviation beacon, a nice bright male that jumped out onto a branch, surprising us, since we were expecting to have to scan the grasslands for it. Indigo Buntings were abundant--4 or 5 males flying around, vying for territory and one lone female--hard to tell if she was attached to any of the males. Another interesting bird in that field is one that I would have totally overlooked (I would use "overheard" but it isn't congruent in this sense) was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak that Scott heard and pointed out to the group. If I had been by myself and had even noticed the song, I would have presumed it to be a robin, though it is slightly different when you pay attention. Note to self: pay attention.
Every time I go to Assunpink it seems to get bigger. Scott knows his way around and took us to some spots I'd never been to, like Stone Tavern Lake, where we found Warbling Vireo, more buntings, Orchard Orioles, and a fair number of Common Yellowthroats. Then we plunged deep into terra incognita, as the road turned from paved to dirt, to rough dirt, past another entrance to Stone Tavern Lake and then back to paved. By now, I was so turned around that I didn't even know if we were still in Assunpink; Scott assured me we were. Along this road we heard a few Wood Thrushes, heard a Swamp Sparrow, and saw a brilliant male Scarlet Tanager.
We drove down the road some more and suddenly the landscape became familiar and I instantly flipped from "where the hell are we?" to "oh yeah, I know this road." Our final stop was around the bend to the other side of Assunpink Lake, opposite the boat launch. It was there, near the famous mulberry tree, that we heard the "coo-coo" of a Black-billed Cuckoo. We doubled back to where we thought the bird was, but never found it. Would have like to have seen that bird. Interestingly, I realized a few minutes later that it wasn't my first Black-billed Cuckoo of the year--on Staten Island earlier this month I heard the same call as we crept along in traffic on Forest Hill Road. I just wasn't sure that day and birding wasn't first on my mind (a rare event, admittedly); hearing it again today confirmed it.
For the day I had 46 species. I'm sure the total for the group was a bit more than that.
Canada Goose 16 Assunpink Lake
Mute Swan 2 Stone Tavern lake
Mallard 1 Assunpink Lake
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Bald Eagle 2 Flying over Assunpink Lake
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Black-billed Cuckoo 1
Northern Flicker 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Eastern Kingbird 3
White-eyed Vireo 2 Heard
Warbling Vireo 1
Blue Jay 1
Purple Martin 2
Tree Swallow 1
Bank Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 5
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 1 Heard
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Wood Thrush 3 Heard
American Robin 15
Gray Catbird 5
Brown Thrasher 1
Cedar Waxwing 10
Common Yellowthroat 15
Yellow Warbler 5
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Eastern Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 5
Field Sparrow 4 Aviation beacon field
Song Sparrow 2 Heard
Swamp Sparrow 1 Heard Clarksburg-Robbinsville Road.
Scarlet Tanager 1 Clarksburg-Robbinsville Road.
Northern Cardinal 1 Heard
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 10
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Common Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Begging from robin. Are robins parasitized by cowbirds?
Orchard Oriole 3
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1
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